What is Christian Sanctification?

There are two basic components for understanding sanctification (set apart for God) as mentioned in the New Testament. The first aspect is called "Positional Sanctification" which is the regeneration of the Holy Spirit given to a person at the moment of conversion to Christ. This sanctification places you permanently into the family of God and guarantees your full redemption. It is a gift from God to the person who accepts Christ as their savior. At this point, the believer has been set apart for God and has received His gift of eternal life. Therefore, Positional sanctification is freely given and is passively received by the one who has accepted Christ.

The second aspect of sanctification is called "Progressive Sanctification." God wants the Christian to fellowship with Him, in other words, to live by His truth and His Spirit that He placed within them. This is actively received into manifestation by the Christian because it requires the will and action on the part of the believer to follow after Christ. The regeneration of the Holy Spirit in the believer is also called the "new man" or the new nature placed within the believer. It is God's will that every Christian actively be sanctified in Him, which means to walk in the new nature that one has already received.

The Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Ephesians 4:24,

"And that ye put on the new man, who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

By this, believers take hold of the power of Christ within them and begin to overcome the "old nature" and to be transformed into the very image of Christ. It is this process that frees the Christian from the bondage of sin and is the key to having power with God. This walk is a walk of faith, and will fill the Christian with the new life that has already been given to him or her at the time of conversion.

2Co 5:17 Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.

Again, this new nature has already been given to the believer, but its transforming power is experienced when a Christian becomes sanctified by following after the things of God.

Search for God's will in the bible, meditate on what He says to you. The epistles of the New Testament were written to the Christian. This is where you would begin to understand God's will and promises.

Do not believe anything anyone tells you without investigating the bible for yourself to verify those things that are said to you. We have God's Word and His Holy Spirit to keep us from error. There are many doctrines and interpretations claiming to be the will of God. Always seek God for yourself, He is your personal Savior and promises to guide you into all truth.

JESUS PRAYED, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them from the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth." (ASV, Joh 17:15-17).

Clearly, sanctification or sanctifying oneself with God's Word is an integral part of our daily spiritual warfare in which we are kept by God from the "evil one."

For definitions and practical application of the biblical terms: salvation, sanctification, justification, righteousness and redemption click below:

Biblical Doctrines

orig. post 7/11/05